Users: Prime
by Starspike7
Summary: Rewrite of Users. Ty wakes up one morning and didn't read the User Agreement. Now he is stuck in a video game that is going off the rails as an AI, Corrupted Saren, and his friends begin to drive him crazy. He will be pushed to his limits and the question is not how he will survive but in what state he mind will be in at the end.
1. Attention

**So, I have gotten a lot of flack for my first ten chapters in my old version of Users and this is my retort to all that. I started rewriting them and in turn it caused the first ten to turn into seventeen. That lead me to decided to do a rewritten version and here it is.  
Well, weather you are an old fan or new. Get ready and tell you friend, your dog and your psychiatrist because Users is back.**

**Ty:**

I opened my eyes groggily as the sound of the "Imperial March" blasted from my phone. With a quick swipe I grabbed it off the counter and looked at the caller ID. A groan immediately escaped my lips as I saw it was seven in the morning and my boss was on the ID.

My thumb moved to the end button but I decided against it and hit talk. "Hello?"

"Ty, Dillon called in sick. You are the only one on call this weekend so I need you down here in five minutes." My boss' voice was gruff and he sounded pleased with himself for calling me right now.

Then again, he had been looking for a good excuse to get rid of me, like how he'd wrote me up two weeks ago for taking my lunch break when I was the only one at the store. Though I just wrote down the thirty minutes on my time card and ate while helping people, he still wrote me up for it.

Now, up until a week ago, I couldn't tell him no even if I wanted to. I had saved my money up for a while to buy something for my girlfriend that I had been dating for four years. At this point it was lucky for him that she walked out on me.

"No. I'm not the only one on call for this, there is Sam and Kathy. Second, I'm not on call. I never wrote my name on the list and this is my first day off in four months." My words were steadfast but at the same time I knew that I was throwing everything I worked for there away.

"Your severance check is in the mail." He sounded happier than he did in the entire time I worked for him.

I hit end on my phone and sat it down on the table, no longer able to sleep. "Well, shit."

Pushing myself up I grabbed some of my blue jeans off the ground and put on my "The Flash" t-shirt. As I did, my mind drifted off to when things were simpler. Back about eighteen years ago when I used to actually enjoy life.

I always told myself that I would be a superhero just like the Flash but then I got a reality check. Standing up, I walked out into the living room, taking in the sight as I stepped into it.

White walls, brown carpet, crappy couch, a red lazy chair, a doorway to the kitchen and then not a foot after it was a island where I ate with my friends. It may not have been perfect but it was mine and I couldn't help but smile when I saw it.

So, as a celebration of my recent unemployment, I decided to play Mass Effect one through three. A feat made simpler thanks to the fact that I now owned them all and they were downloaded on my hard drive. I sat down and popped the first disk in starting up a new game.

Usually, most of my Shepard's green eyes and that was pretty much all that tied them together. At this point, I was feeling like doing some real combat not fashion design so I went with the Shepard from the cover. After all that, I had the rest picked out.

He was going to be the ultimate paragon of supreme goodness. He was going to fall for Ashley and stay with her. Although, I had to admit that I might go off track and have him go with Tali.

I started off quickly, feeling a blood lust or a oil lust as I blasted apart Geth after Geth. Nothing stood in my way marching through Eden Prime, the Citadel might as well have bowed to my awesomeness and soon I was crushing Geth beneath the tires of the Mako while on the search for Liara T'Soni on Therum.

Within forty-five minutes of entering Therum, I was in the cutscene where Shepard is talking to the team and welcoming Liara to the team. It was at this point that my stomach growled and I looked at the clock. I had been playing for three hours without food.

I sat my controller down and hit pause on my game to go make something to eat. Figuring it was a day to treat myself, I began cooking over easy eggs, hashbrowns, toast, a glass of orange juice, some waffles, and added in some apple slices to give it extra flavor. Soon, I had the perfect breakfast and sat at the island to eat.

I dug in and began eating until something caught my eye in the other room. There was a warning like you get when you can't connect to xbox live. I just shrugged it off and finished the rest of my food with a smile on my face.

Sadly, I finished my orange juice before the rest of my breakfast was done and had to go to the fridge to grab the jug out. In reality, the act of getting up and walking the three feet to the fridge wasn't bad but it was what was on the fridge that killed me a little bit.

My girlfriend or ex-girlfriend now walked out on me a day ago and all she left me was a note that said only "goodbye" on the fridge. She didn't even sign -Layla at the end but I could tell it was her's by the hand writing. Most people at this point would have called the cops but you probably guessed it, I had been left like this plenty of times.

Now, even if I didn't look at it, it still killed me a little bit inside. Just knowing it was there seemed to make my heart feel a bit heavier.

In the end, I decided against the orange juice and just finished my meal. Within minutes of finishing it I was back in my living room and checking out the error message. Though, I grabbed a bag of funions and a six pack of coke along the way.

**Warning: Due to tampering, a new character is being inputted into game. Do you wish to proceed? Yes/No**

After that it was just a boring User Agreement that probably promised my kidney if I tampered with the game. I didn't read it though, I was just so overcome by anger and just how everything had gone so far.

I threw the controller and screamed. "First the note and now this?!"

The controller neared the TV and was immediately repulsed backwards as the magnetic barrier kicked in and hurled it back at me. Another thing my ex did since she was an engineer and always had to experiment with my stuff.

"Fanfukcingtabulous!Now, my xbox is acting funky, I am scared to go near my fridge, and now I can't get angry and throw stuff at my TV!" I retrieved my controller from where it landed and I hit yes to see if that would fix my console.

My vision began to pixelate and everything froze for a second. Not long after that the pixelation left and I must have moved closer to the TV because everyone was looking a lot better than they did from the couch. I could have sworn that I was looking at them though Mass Effect 3 not Mass Effect three.

Something weird hit me as I looked around at them, they were all looking at me. We seemed to stare at eachother for a few minutes until Shepard finally spoke.

"Who they hell is he?"

"It looked like he teleported on board." Tali observed from her chair.

Wrex stood up from his chair and began walking toward me. "I'll go toss him out the airlock."

I stood up from where I was and put my hands out still a bit dazed from what I was experiencing. "But... uh… I'm your creator."

"Ha, right." Wrex got a devilish grin like he did when someone was about to die.

"Stay away dude!" Wrex came closer and closer and I put up my arm to defend myself. "I said stay away!"

"Yeah, and I'm just not listening!" Wrex reached down and pulled a knife out of his boot.

My mind began to race as I thought of stuff to say or ways to fight back something. In the end Wrex pulled his knife up and came down in a chopping motion. Instinctively, I put my arm up to block in a closed my eyes ready for the pain but something happened. I search my mind and thought of an omniblade.

A chain reaction happened after that and a bright red eruption came as an omniblade erupted from my arm and blocked Wrex's shot. In that instance, his knife melted right where it struck the blade and broke it in half.

The sudden action gave me a false sense of confidence as I began waving it around, threateningly at everyone. "That's right you bastards, back off or I'll-"

I was cut off when Liara locked me in the stasis. What followed was utterly horrible as Wrex bitch smacked me across the room and into the railing. The world went black after I realized that I bent the safety rail.

**Shepard:**

John stepped into the medbay and looked over at the boy on the table. Immediately, his blood boiled and all the anger he could keep down, even around the council came out. Luckily, he managed to swallow it all when Chakwas came out of the back room.

"Commander, here to see the stowaway?"

Shepard clenched his jaw as he stood over the guy. "How is he doing?"

"He is recovering already. I had to use the last of our supply of medical nanites to reattach his spinal cords and fix the broken vertebrae. Luckily, we will be able to pick up some on Noveria."

He moved from him over to Chakwas's datapad with the man's charts. "So, what's it looking like for him."

She quickly snatched it out of his hands. "I have yet to figure out and at this point his diagnosis would just confuse you."

"Okay, well, we need to figure out a place to put him so he can't get out."

She pointed to the back of the medbay. "Well, we could put him in the lab and remove everything from it and lock the door."

He gave a nod and began to walk to the door. "I'll have some of the crew come in and take care of moving the contents of the room."

Something suspicious was going on with that guy and Chakwas was keeping it from him. Now, if there was one thing that he hates, it's being out of a loop.

**Ty:**

I felt a cold chill on my cheek and when I opened my eyes, a cold metal floor graced me vision. "Did I get thrown in the drunk tank again?"

"No, you just snuck aboard one of the most important vessels in the galaxy and somehow biotically teleported without having biotics."

I pushed my sore body off the ground and looked over at who was talking. Garrus was sitting in a chair and looking at a datapad with a not so friendly look on his face. In fact, it was more angry and ready to kill anything that looked at him funny.

"So, want to tell me why you are on the Normandy?"

"I thought it was a taxi." I joked.

Garrus retaliated by grabbing me up and slamming me against the wall. "Funny guy, last funny guy that I met also got to meet the unpleasant end of my gun."

I began to panic and pulled the omni-blade out but Garrus was too quick and he scanned it. Within seconds he reconstructed his tool into a blade and it was at my throat. I panicked, closing and brought my omni-blade up, wishing it was a tazer-blade.

There was a blue flash, so bright it lit up my eyelids and an electric pop sound. I immediately dropped from the wall as Garrus's arm left my throat. Refusing to open my eyes I just took a sniff of the air and the smell of fried chicken filled my nostrils.

Opening my eyes just a crack, I saw that the omni-blade that was on my wrist was now an omni-tazer, Garrus was on his back and his armor was smoking profusely. Sinking back, I fell on my ass and leaned against the wall. I was not only stuck in a videogame but I also just fried my favorite character.

After a quick facepalm that was a little too hard, I looked over at the omni-tazer. "So, can you turn into an omni-tool or do I need to figure that out myself?"

Electricity just continued to arc up the prongs in response.

"If I don't make some friends soon then I am going to go crazy."

The omni-tazer dissolved.

"Yeah, I hope that isn't an omen for my sanity."


	2. This is Why You are Here

**Tali:**

Tali walked through the medbay to take her turn guarding the prisoner. To be honest it was going to be a relief keeping an eye on him instead of worrying that Garrus wasn't going to do his job correctly, not that she didn't trust him, but he was a turian after all, her experience told her a Turian's first instinct is always going to be confrontational.

As the door opened, Tali froze before unfolding her Shotgun in her hands. The prisoner was standing over Garrus and examining his omni-tool. "Freeze, bosh'tet!"

He looked up in surprise. "Uh, this isn't what it looks like…" he said nervously.

"Step. Away. From. Garrus" She demanded

As he continued to type Tali aimed her gun threateningly "I have a Shotgun!".

He began to back away just as Garrus coughed startling Tali causing her to flinch. *BLAM* her shot rang out. Luckily the shot wasn't well aimed and more surprising that he had shields that instantly popped like a soap bubble or his days of stowing away would have been over.

"I… I'm not dead?" He asked in surprise before he started checking his torso for holes before he giggled nervously "I'm alive!" The same couldn't be said for the wall to his left however.

Tali chose not to acknowledge his confused act and held her gun steady. "What did you do to Garrus?"

He gestured at the unconscious Garrus and then looked at her. "He tried to beat me up and I accidentally tazed him with this." His omni-tool flared to life as before but this time instead of a blade it was some kind of an electrically charged two pronged omni-taser.

Tali's grip on her Shotgun tightened. "Well, we'll see what Shepard has to say then." She said activating her personal com. "Tali to Shepard, Commander you may want to come to the medbay. The prisoner has incapacitated Garrus."

Shortly Shepard stormed into the temporary brig momentarily glancing at Garrus before grabbing ty by the front of his T-Shirt slamming him into the bulkhead . "Tell me what the hell you did to Garrus before I start breaking bones"

"Commander, if I may?" Chakwas asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. "This boy is an enigma and has many questions to answer. Don't you think that it would be a wise to make use of him? Possibly take him to Noveria and contact the Alliance from there to see what they may find?. At least make use of his unusual tech skills before giving me more work to do."

"Yes, you're right. Tali, help me with Garrus." Shepard said before releasing the stowaway and letting him slump rearranging his rumpled clothing.

Tali wanted to object, but what Chakwas said was .. compelling, putting her gun away she helped Shepard lift Garrus up by his arms. "Which bed are we moving him to?" she asked with a grunt.

"The one closest to the door will be fine. I'll make sure it's secured after you leave. I'm just going to run some tests on our guest before you take him with you." Chakwas replied

"Whatever you say doctor, I have to go."

Tali couldn't shake the unusual feeling that Shepard, and herself for that matter were being so… passive with Chakwas, she just shrugged it off as familiarity as she followed Shepard out of the med bay.

**Ty:**

"Your arm please." The doctor had some surgical tubing in one hand and a vial and needle in the other.

I shrugged and gave her my arm. "Go ahead."

Chakwas put the extractor together and kneeled down beside me. "You may feel a pinch."

I winced as the needle entered my arm, causing a green shimmer around me in Matrix like symbols. "The hell?"

"You are seeing reality, Ty." I looked at her in surprise resisting the urge to pull my arm away. "I didn't tell anyone here my name."

"Of course you di-" She started to say before stopping sighing "I guess there's no more need for the charades then." She let go of the vial letting it drop into my lap as it filled.

"What are you talking about?" I was stunned by what she was doing and the fact that she had just dropped the vial and expected me to catch it.

She stood up and crossed her arms. "Ty, where are you?"

"Uh, the Normandy." Even though I said it, there was still that lingering doubt.

"Exactly, You seem to be on the Normandy. You do realize how impossible this is?"

"How the hell do you know who I am?" I stood up to meet her, noticing that the vial was beginning to near the point of over filling with my blood.

"Occasionally, a rare few Users find a way that they can enter the game." She gestured around her before pointing at me. "You are here because Layla found a way to do just that. Granted she is not the first nor the best but she found a way."

"How do you know all this and again, how do you know who I am?" I demanded.

She just pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "I was about to tell you. I am the AI for the game. I make sure to provide a challenge for the player. I know who you are because all this this is inside your Xbox and your Kinnect is my access to your world."

"Well, I better remember to unplug that thing after you send me out of here."

She smirked. "Indeed, you're welcome to try, that is if you ever get the chance."

"Crazy lady says she is an AI in a video game, say what now?" The vial was beginning to get very full and she snatched it along with the tube.

"I'll simplify it, you are trapped in a video game Ty or should I say Andrew?"

I was stunned and off balance by what she was saying. "Okay, why am I in a videogame and why are you calling me Andrew."

"You agreed." Chakwas said with a shrug

"I.. what?" I asked in confusion

"Before you entered the game, did you read everything on the terms of use? Or did you just ignore it and select yes?"

"I just hit yes. What does that have to do with me being called Andrew?"

She sighed and began walking to the door. "You didn't read the User Agreement, typical. If you did, you would have realized that it said that you were going to be digitized and transported into the game. You're here under contract now and it stated that you would take on the abilities of your last Shepard through all three games."

I stood up to follow her but the door closed just in front of my face. "Ah, c'mon. Nobody reads the User Agreement!"

I was met with only silence and took a seat in front of the door. My mind began to wonder and my eyes fell upon my arm. It seemed ridiculous but the idea of taking on the abilities of my last Shepard meant that I was an engineer.

I began to bend and flex my arm into different positions trying to figure out how to activate the omni-tool. Though, it probably looked like I was trying to play an invisible Wii game. After about five minutes of this, I threw my arms up in exasperation.

I held my head in my hands as I moped with my inability to do a simple task, something my ex probably would have loved to watch. "Goddamn it brain. Stop thinking about Layla. Focus on something else like knitting… wait a second."

Just by saying it I had an idea on how to work the omni-tool. It wasn't about the position of your arm that activated the omni-tool it must have been focus. I closed my eyes to cut off the distraction of sight and began to focus.

My sight was flooded with the raining green matrix code. I felt my arm tense as a warmth began to surge through it. The green code turned orange around my arm taking on the familiar form of an Omni-Tool. I opened my eyes. My left forearm was now fully aglow with the bright orange omni-tool. "Great! Now, how do I use it?"

**Shepard:**

John sat back in his chair with his fingers crossed, contemplating what Chakwas had suggested. It sounded like a solid plan and he would no doubt like to have one of the red blades that the prisoner seemed to activate from his Omni-Tool. Still, there was no reason that he should be this calm about it.

He had spent the last couple hours wanting to punch something every time he thought about the kid. Now he had to trust him when he shouldn't. There was no doubt in his mind nor in his gut that taking the guy onto Noveria would be a bad call.

Like it or not, he wasn't going to argue with Chakwas' logic here because it was high reward, low risk. All that left him to do now was to go over the intel profiles and see what he could dig up on Noveria. It didn't look too different from most business run planets, though. From what he could gather, it was probably corrupt, that meant he was going to have to either kiss some ass or throw some threats to get around. Then, there was a lot of blacked out or 'missing' files so something was obviously going on there, because why else would Benezia be there?

Tapping his fingers on the table in thought, the big debate now was the question of would he take Liara. She was an extremely powerful biotic and could undoubtedly defeat most that came their way but she was Benezia's daughter. For all he knew there would be a conflict of interests with the possibility of her switching sides at the drop of a hat, then they would really be screwed.

It was times like this that he thought back to his battle on Elysium. when he stood on the rubble and called to the civilians to take up arms. Lead them, and kept every single one of them from getting enslaved or killed. That was easy, inciting a riot among scared civilians would be easy. Judging someone's character based on a piece of paper and some spoken words, nigh impossible.

leaning back in his chair he grabbed his coffee from his desk just as a somebody knocked at the door. "Come in."

Gunnery Sergeant Williams stepped in through the door. "Commander, I heard you had a chance to interrogate the Prisoner."

Sipping his coffee Shepard shook his head. "Not yet, Chakwas wanted to run some tests on him to find out if he was hyped up on red sand or something or just nuts."

"Really? Uh, sir, I checked the internal scanners and found no trace of extraneous Eezo coming from anywhere aboard the ship besides the eezo core, T'soni, Alenko and the weapons."

He nodded as he took in her words and cringed when he realized that his coffee tasted terrible. "Damn, needs sugar."

"Sir, don't you think this is a little informal?" Ashley said, obviously feeling awkward.

"Williams, you'd better check the weapons we'll be hitting Noveria shortly. Do whatever you can to make sure that they are in the best shape possible, dismissed."

"Sir!" she replied with a salute before turning to leave he gave her a nod as she left but made sure to get a glance at her "other features" as she walked out.

As door closed Shepard returned to reading the data his thoughts going around in circles. He glanced down at his coffee and began to debate whether he should go get some sugar or be lazy and just hang in his chair. In the end he just sighed and downed the terrible tasting drink.

**Well, here is chapter two. You know what to do. Leave a comment about it if you want me to keep writing these rewrites.**


	3. Mind Breaking

**Ty:**

I sat eating the ration I was allowed by Shepard and being watched intently by Wrex. Between the spork in my hand, cream of potato soup and the biofoil that covered the food, I didn't think that I would be making any escapes anytime soon. Apparently, neither did Wrex as he brought food in for himself as well.

Generally I ate a lot more than what they gave me and I was able to finish it before Wrex was even through with his main course. "You gonna eat the rest of that?"

He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. "Yes."

"Bummer, I'm still hungry." I said, balling up the trash in my hand.

"How? You already ate more than I have seen any human eat."

"I don't know. I usually cook my own food and make way more than this."

Wrex just made a grunt and finished eating his food and took my trash. "Alright, I'll take that trash you got there."

He stood up and got in close enough that I could smell a rancid odor coming from his mouth. It just made me hand him the trash eagerly so that he would just leave. The act just made him shake his head and walk out the door.

Immediately after his exit, the door reopen and Shepard stepped through, taking a seat in the chair that Wrex just inhabited. He looked at me for a long time, probably trying to get a read on me just wanting to figure me out. Kinda weird since I created him so I already knew everything he had to offer.

After what seemed like an uncomfortably long pause he found his words. "Who are you?"

I thought about his question thinking on how to answer it, my eyes drifted down to my wrist and I remembered that my ID tag would say Andrew Shepard, should he chose to read it. "My name is Andrew."

He took in the words for a moment. "How did you get in my ship?"

"I kinda poofed in from the ceiling." I joked.

"You know what I meant." His tone showed that he was already fed up with any joking. "How did you managed to fool billions of taxpayer's money and get aboard?"

"Uh, funny story there. Um, I don't know." I said, being as honest as possible.

He took a breath and then stood up. "Damn it, I'm not in the mood for your bull. How did you get here?"

"I told you, I don't know." I could see anger rising in his eyes.

He followed my words by grabbing me wrists and flipping me around before putting some omni-cuffs on my wrists. "Well, we will be in Noveria here soon and then we can get some answers out of you."

"How? Noveria is a corporate planet that has nothing to do with torture or policing. You would be better off just having Tali or someone hack my omni-tool. Granted you probably wouldn't get anything anyway. Seeing as how I really don't know how I got here."

Shepard flipped me around and looked at me with a glare. "If you really don't know anything. Then, you wouldn't mind if we tried some… other forms of information gathering."

"What? Are you going to have Liara mind meld with me?" I said jokingly.

He gave no reply but instead just smirked.

This was a huge invasion of privacy for sure, he was going to have someone get inside my head and basically take a look. Then again, he was never hurt by what Liara did and it wasn't like I had anything to hide. After all, Shepard knowing what was coming up could help and maybe even change the ending.

"Sure, why not?" I said, keeping a smile on my face and giving a nod of approval.

He took my words as a surprise, probably expecting me to have said no and panicked. "Okay, I'll go have her come in then."

Shepard moved over to the door and knocked two seconds before it shot open. Liara stepped into the room. "Is he ready commander?"

Shepard nodded and moved the chair out into the middle of the room. "Sit."

I stood up and took a seat in the chair, immediately followed by Shepard taking my shoulders and pressing down so I couldn't get out. Liara stood in front of me and gave a reassuring smile, It made me relax a little and I just leaned back.

"Okay, this shouldn't hurt." She said before closing her eyes and then opening them completely black, "embrace eternity."

My hands clenched the seat white knuckled as she invaded my mind causing me to violently convulse. Images flared in my mind some of them pleasant others heartwrenching. One that stayed for more than I would have like was me standing over my cousins couffin not but a week ago, then staring at Layla's note, And drinking myself to sleep after all this.

The pain went on for what felt like thirty minutes as Liara opened every door, and every secret in my mind until finally she pulled away. "I am done."

I replied to her by leaning over the side of the chair and puking what I had for breakfast on the floor. "That wasn't awesome."

Shepard pushed away from me and looked to Liara. "What did you learn?"

"He has no idea how he got here. He was in his living room only seconds before he got here."

There was a moment of hesitation but Shepard glared at Liara. "Very funny. How did he get here?"

Liara's eyes widened in surprise. "You think I am lying?"

"That, or this kid has figured out a way to fool your mindlink thing."

"Kid? Dude, I'm twenty-four." I said looking back at Shepard.

"I don't care if you are four-hundred-and-twenty. You act like a kid and I am calling you a kid."

The door opened again and this time Chakwas stepped through. "Perhaps I can be of assistance." She held up a datapad to the Commander. "As you can see here. The man has biotic nodes that we have never seen before. My hypothesis is that they control aether frequencies. He must have changed his frequency and ended up teleporting to our ship because it holds the same."

He looked at the chart and then over to Chakwas. "It figures we get the weird ones. Someone get him something warm. Noveria is gonna be cold." After that, he marched out of the room looking more confused then angry.

**Shepard:**

"Commander, Noveria is two hours and closing."

John zipped up the last of his underarmor and looked to one of the cameras. "Thanks Joker, tell Liara, Wrex, and Tali to suit up."

"Aye aye, Commander."

Shepard readied his breastplate and snapped it into place. He didn't really enjoy the idea of wearing light armor any more than the next soldier but this Scorpion III armor was better than anything he came across or could afford so far. Then again, he hadn't gotten the best on this mission even though he was a SPECTRE.

After he finished this, took out Saren, and became a goddamned hero, he was going to go straight to the Council with a few demands. But he was getting ahead of himself. First he had to get on the rest of his armor.

It took him a full thirty minutes to fully assemble the armor and another ten to activate its sensors and load a new shield battery. After his armor was fully on, he grabbed the three datapads he had made for his crew and took off to the elevator.

Not long after that, he was entering the cargo bay and saw Ashley and Liara fitting the prisoner with armor. "Hey, what's going on here?"

Ashley tightened one of the clamps for the back armor before turning to him. "We are shutting off the shield generator so if he tries to run then a bullet will put him down. The armor was Kaidan's old set that we had to tighten down to fit him. We also cut out his omni-tool function, though we couldn't find any signs of implants for it."

"It is possible that he was implanted very young and the scars have healed by now." Liara suggested.

Shepard looked at him and then around the prisoners armor. "Make sure that you shut down any sensors and his weapon holding system for it."

The Lieutenant saluted and then went back to work securing the armor. While she did this, he walked around to the prisoners front.

"Alright, I'm going to warn you now not to run."

He shrugged. "Didn't plan on it. My name is… Andrew by the way."

"Andrew… What?"

"Uh, you might laugh at this but ironically my last name is Shepard."

"What?" The commander brought up his hud and looked at the man, sure enough his tag read Andrew Shepard. "Damn, it can't be that small of a galaxy."

He didn't look to sure of himself. "You know, there is a joke in here somewhere but I don't think I should make it on account of you looking like you are about to hit me."

"Well, looks like you maintain a basic level of intuition." Shepard remarked pointedly. "Now, look, Noveria has special facilities that we will gain access to, from there we will decipher your omni-tool to gain the data off it and you will be free to go."

"That seems a little too easy." He remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just count yourself lucky that we aren't leaving you on the last planet we visited."

"What was the last planet you visited?" Andrew asked, looking like he was hiding something.

"Therum, the place was hotter than hot and had no colony that you can catch a ride from like here."

"Lucky me then." He said sarcastically.

John pinched the bridge of his nose but just disregarded him as Ashley finished her work and met him by the weapon table. From their they began setting out the weapons for the squad Mostly a few higher grade Storm shotguns, IIIs and IVs to be exact, a few Lancers and Avengers. Nothing that would be strong enough for taking on massive amounts of troops but they had enough fire power that squads of three and four wouldn't be too difficult to take on.

"alright, lets give Tali and Wrex the IVs and I'll take the three. As for the assault rifles, wrex can take the Avenger since it is graded for closer range while I can provide mid-range with the Lancer." Shepard situated out.

"Yes sir." Ashley began pulling apart each of the guns and outfitting them for different ranges and scenarios. High caliber barrels, improved sightings and the like to make sure that they were fully capable of handling themselves.

As they finished, Shepard had a weird feeling that something was off. The weird thing was that it wasn't connected to the prisoner. It was something… else.

**So, really sorry this is so late. I kinda gave into peer pressure and watched Attack on Titan. It basically punched me in the face and said 'nope.' That's why this is so late. I think I am going to have to keep this on a Friday release schedule but every time I reach ten reviews I will release a chapter that day. SO, there is that… um, I don't know if I have anything else.**

**^I do.^**

**Ty?**

**^Yes, I came over from the latest chapter of Users in a World of Fiction to kick you in the ass and tell you to write faster!^**

**Oh shit, I really don't need this. Just let me get some of my Penelton whiskey and I will get to finishing chapter 4.**

**^Nope, or else I will get Bourne over here and have him kick your ass.^**

**Huh, damn you.**

**^Many have. Now, get to writing. You, readers, thanks for your reviews. Keep them coming and I will kick him in the ass to put out two a week.^**

**You suck.**

**^And you are a procrastinator.^**


	4. A Blue Button?

**Ty:**

My top ten wierdest feelings in the world just took on another section for omni-cuffs. it was like nothing was around my wrists yet they were stuck together. It wasn't exactly magnetic, it wasn't like rope, it was just weird. No matter how hard I pulled they never managed to split.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked Shepard as we waited for the airlock's decontamination to finish.

"Well, let's see. You teleported into the heart of my ship, created a blade, and then transformed that blade to taze one of my crew so… yes, it is." He said flatly.

"Dude, I don't even know how I did that." I said, pulling at the omni-cuffs again.

"Well, maybe if you did then I would be inclined to believe you and release the cuffs."

"Really?"

"No." He finished as the airlock dinged and we were on our way.

As we began to walk I took in the surroundings, just saying it was a lot different from the game was an understatement. Everything was hyperrealistic all the way down to the overly clean floor. _Okay, maybe not hyperrealistic… then again maybe everyone here is just neat freaks._

We got all the way up to when we they crew would be cut off by the security personnel and sure enough they cut us off. "Sir, we have a strict 'no armed newcomers' policy here on Noveria and I am afraid I will have to confiscate your weapons."

"I'm gonna have to bypass that. Commander Shepard, SPECTRE."

The lady brought her hand up to her ear and began to speak. "Control, can you run this guy's number? A Commander Shepard and blah blah blah."

It was just amazing that my mind cut out whenever something bored me to no end. I looked from what they were saying down to my arms, which I noticed were now at my side instead of behind my back. _Huh, the omni-cuffs must have malfunctioned. That makes sense, I guess._

I looked at my wrist for a second and my omni-tools appeared. First reaction I had was to glance up at everyone but they all were focused on the security team ahead of us. That gave me a chance to start going through programs.

The omni-tool wasn't that hard to navigate seeing as it was all mental and physical based. To complete functions you have to actually hit an allow button or close a window but the biops page was one of the first I found and then the control panel. It was from there that I began looking up what programs it had.

Some were obvious like calculator, gps, even a few search engine apps. What came next was some strange files with names like CI2Y0-81457 and IIVCIN3I2473. It took me a few seconds to mull it over but I opened the prior application and it began to install.

Shortly after the install, a blue button appeared on the inner ring of where the tool formed around my palm. Right next to it a small information window popped up that read, **Press for desired effect.**

I'm not proud of what happened after I pressed the button but it was pretty freaking awesome. A small white orb formed in my palm and fired off targeting the lady with dark hair in charge. she froze the instant it touched her.

Her lackies' guns were brought up immediately after that and they opened fire. Liara, Wrex and Tali both ducked right while Shepard went left and Liara tackled me left as well.

She looked down at my arms then at me. "How did you free yourself?"

"I don't know." was my immediate response but she obviously wasn't looking for that as the Asari ducked around the crate and threw biotics at the security personnel.

I pulled myself up next to her and looked down at my arm and reactivated my omni-tool. _I can help._

With a quick twitch I stuck my arm out and clicked the button without looking to see. "Did I hit anything?"

Liara ducked back and looked at me. "You hit a crate behind them."

"Damn! Uh, are my shields up?"

She looked in the corner of her eye then ar me. "No."

"Can you reactivate them?"

"Yes."

"Will you?"

"Are you kidding? How can I trust you if you just started a firefight after breaking your cuffs?!"

"Uh, you… can't." I fell against the crate and began to sink down as Liara got back to work. Judging by the amount of bullets flying down the range there was no way that I could get out there like I was. Worse, when this is all over the Commander was more than likely going to put a bullet between my eyes and not even bat an eye.

_Then again, I have nothing to lose by going out there. I'm dead either way._

I slowly edged my way to the side of the crate and prepared to go for it. Then, my omni-tool beeped.

I clicked the glowing button and the screen popped up. **CS: Do you need help?**

** Who is this?** I typed back.

**CS: A friend. Now, put your hand to your head and think of three warriors.**

** Uh, what do you mean, three warriors?**

** CS: YOu have played fighter games. Which are your three favorite?**

** Akuma, Ryu Hayabusa, and King. What, think of them and place my hand to my forehead? That's completely stupid.**

** CS: Fine, but don't cry when you die and aren't able to find me.**

I looked from the message to the hail of bullets pelting the cover. _What the hell is the message talking about? You know, fuck it._

I focused on Akuma, Ryu, and King as I placed my palm to my forehead. Every muscle in my body tightened as matrix code flooded my vision. All I saw after that was a small screen with the three warriors doing their moves.

My body relaxed after what seemed like an hour and I was leaning against something cold. Not just cold like the boxes but this was like frostbite met with nitrogen and it had a baby. I removed my hand from my forehead and saw I was leaning against one of the Turian security guards.

I quickly threw myself away from him and onto the ground where I saw another frozen officer. "The fuck?"

**Shepard:**

In all his years, John had never seen someone move like Andrew did. He managed to flow with the battle dodging the bullets as they flew. It was like the guy was an incompetent fool but someone else took over.

That made it all the more necessary for John to train his sights on Andrew as he moved. Even if he was putting on an act of being confused by the carnage he caused.

"Alright, what the hell did you do?!" Shepard called at Andrew.

Andrew looked from the ice people to him. "I don't know."

"Stop bullshitting me!" His finger tensed around the trigger and the shot ripped through his shoulder making him drop to the ground.

"Ah, fuck!" He began rolling around gripping his shoulder. "What happened to being a fucking paragon?! Ah, you shot me!"

John felt his pulse calm and then he put his gun away and looked over to Tali. "Get cuffs back on him and make sure they are the electric kind."

She nodded and ran forward, grabbing Andrew and turning him over, pulling his arms back and placing the cuffs on while he screamed all the while. "Almost got it."

"Commander, is this really necessary?" Liara asked.

"Not like a bullet will hurt him at all." Wrex retorted. "He's got another one anyway."

Liara looked from Wrex back to the Commander with a pleading look.

"You're right. Okay, Liara and Wrex, you guys take him to a medical facility instead and get him patched up. I'd prefer not to waste any medigel."

They both nodded and walked over to Andrew. While they were kneeling by him, John motioned for Tali to follow him and walked inside ready to grab his gun at a moments notice. His raction timing was spot on as he pulled a gun on an incoming Salarian. "Freeze."

The Salarian threw his hands up and showed that he was only holding a datapad. "I mean you no harm. I have the orders for the Sergeant to led you in."

John put his gun away and took the datapad, looking it over. "Too bad this didn't come five minutes earlier. We got into a firefight thanks to… an idiotic move by a stowaway that we captured."

He looked back behind John and then to the desk. "Could you please go to the front desk and talk to Ms. Parasini in the front desk?"

John gave the Salarian a nod and moved forward to meet with the secretary.

"Shepard, I see you made an interesting entrance." She said with a polite smile.

explaining to her about the prisoner was going to be difficult, more so than to just tell her that shots rang out. It could possibly put them up against a wall when trying to work with the businesses and people of Noveria if he let her know that he brought an out of control stowaway onto their planet. that mean he had to choose his next words carefully.

"Yes, we ran into a disagreement and one of my crew though that one of your officers were about to open fire anyway and made the choice to strike first. Luckily, I was able to take him down before he caused any damage to your docs or killed any of your officers."

"Yes, we sent the orders for your preceeding as soon as you got here but they did not receive it. Please, consider it our fault. Our medical facilities are open to you should one of you be wounded." She continued maintaining her smile.

John's sensed something strange and leaned in close to the lady. "Thank you, we are actually here looking for an Asari Matriarch by the name of Benezia."

"Ah, Benezia." Parasani looked down at her datapad and hit a few buttons. "She has take up in the science lab at Peak 15."

"Okay, how do I get to Peak 15?"

"You would need to travel there by vehicle but we currently do not have any avaliable for your use."

_And there is where what Andrew did comes to bite me. _"Well, we have our own Mako. Is it possible for us to load it into your garage and take that?"

"Yes, but I am seeing that you do not have a garage pass. You will need permission from Administrator Anoliesbefore you may be allowed to access it."

"Okay, where is Administrator Anoleis?"

"He is down that elevator and down the stair to your left." she replied maintaining her smile the entire time but it seemed like she was also trying to tell him something.

"Okay, I will head down there." He stepped away from the counter and walked back over to Liara and Wrex. "We have permission to use the medical center here. Take him there and patch him up but also make damn sure that you keep him sedated."

"Again, you are a dick." Andrew said holding his shoulder as blood flowed out of it.

John loomed over him to help reinforce what he was about to say. "Look, I could have put a bullet in your head but there is something about you that could be useful."

"What happened to being a paragon?" He asked as Wrex began to pick him up.

John took in what he said and look down at his hand giving Andrew a second to grab him by the shoulder and pull him close.

"Rachni on Peak 15."

He pulled away. "What?"

Andrew looked over at the entrance area. "Peak 15 here. Benezia is studying Rachni. Take toxin seals for your armor."

John looked at him and shook his head. "The Rachni are dead and so are you if that bleeds for much longer. Get him to the medical facility."

**Okay, goal for this week is to put out a chapter a day on Sunday and Monday.**

**^I don't think you will be able to do it.^**

**Oh, I will. Because I believe I can and am back on my old writing schedule.**

**^Wait, seriously?! Sweet!^**

**Yeah, so I am hoping to be far in this story and catch up to where I should be.**

**^Alright! What about UiaWoF?^**

**I can do it all! I am on fire!**

**^Yeah, get pumped!^**

**No, I'm litterally on fire. What the hell are you doing Layla?!**

**~Making sure to show you and let the fans know what will happen if you don't put me in the story earlier.~**

**Okay, okay. Well, I gotta go. Leave a review telling me if you like the new Users or the old better so far. And let me know what you think of UiaWoF.**

**(I think it sucks.)**

**^The fuck are you doing here?^**

**(...I dunno. Bored?)**

**~Um, so you come over to Users? Most people just play a video game. And how did you get invited to the chat?~**

**(He shared the doc with T117 to look over it, and the moron left himself logged in.)**

**^Ah, so, you obviously think it sucks.^**

**(I got *spoilers deleted just in case* and that's not to mention the *spoilers deleted cause those chapters haven't been released yet.*...Huh. T117 just walked in. And he looks angry…And he was about to write SaWoF some more, so I should leave so I don't get to cameo just to get shot in the head.)**

**^Alright, well. I guess we all should go too.^**

**S7: 1473I2**


	5. Handcuffs- Kinky

**Ty:**

I rolled over in my bed and cuddled up to my girlfriend, inhaling her sweet scent. Everything just felt right at that moment, it was perfect. She pulled herself away before I could say anything as she began to shake me.

"Wake up! We don't have that much time!"

I forced my eyes opened and looked at her. She was wearing a set of light Liberator armor and had a panicked look. "What?"

"You gotta wake up, they are sedating you."

"No, that was a dream. You sure that you weren't just having a bad dream… that we were sharing?"

"Okay, you aren't this stupid regularly." She put her hand forward and digging a finger into my bullet wound.

"Ah, fuck that's real?!" I called out in pain.

She took hold of my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. "Ty, you are stuck in a video game and are on the verge of losing."

I covered the bullet hole with my hand. "What are you talking about?!

"Mass Effect, Shepard shot you! Okay, look, I don't have time to explain this so I am going to make this quick. You are in a video game, things are different for you here. You need to learn to use your power to survive. You can-"

I woke up suddenly to being shaken by Liara. "Wake up! We have to move!"

"What? Huh?" My eyes hadn't focused yet so it took me a bit to relay the message that we were in trouble.

I looked around and saw that I was in a medical bay in a room like the office spaces, one wall being glass. "What's going on?"

"Those men you froze. They waited until Wrex left to help Shepard and then came barging out of the elevator. I managed to lose them by weaving through this place but it's only a matter of time." She said, pulling out her pistol and running to the door.

I pushed myself up and looked down and saw that the armor was still on me but the left arm was missing. "Where is the left part of the armor?"

"They removed it to work on your wound. Don't worry though, I restarted your armor's functions and shields."

I got up from the table and made my way to her. "Do you have any weapons?"

"Yes."

"Any that I can have?" She looked back at me with anger.

I put my hands up in submittance. "Joking! Joking. Now, where are we going?"

"We are going to have to split up. There are several to elevators. We are going right, left, and then two more rights. These are all immediate turns so if you go past a turn then you past your turn. Got it?"

I nodded my head and noticed how much more like the Shadow Broker Liara was acting rather than herself.

She took off running and I was right on her heels as she moved through the corridors. I took the chance to look around as we did and didn't really see anyone in the hospital besides a few doctors staring at us from inside patient rooms. It was almost too simple, that was until I looked forward to see Liara diving at me and tackling me into a new room as bullets collided with her shield.

We landed with a thud and she was up on her feet before I could even react, breaking some of the glass and taking pot shots at the security personnel down the hall. "Get up!"

It took me a second since I was still half asleep but I was up next to her again. "Starting to get some deja vu here!"

"Shut up and take the assault rifle off my back!" She hit a button on her rifle and it popped up, letting me take it off her back.

I held it in my hand for a second, letting the freezing metal cool my left hand. It looked simple enough but something told me that there was no way that I could use the auto aiming. That meant that I was going to have to aim by my own skill. _Good thing I am from Idaho._

I ducked down to a crouched position and popped around the corner only to immediately go back as the sight of guns firing at me freaked me out. "No, no I can't do it."

Liara sneered and shot around the corner again and fired three shots. "If you are going to be useless then give me back my assault rifle."

I looked at her and then back around the corner. "One more try."

I looked out the corner and flinched as I saw a shot heading straight for my head but my shields stopped it and I felt my confidence rise. Pulling up the assault rifle I put the crosshairs and opened fire on the first guy to peak out from behind cover. Since it was an automatic and I had no experience with them, I just held the trigger until I overheated it but all the damage I did was take his shield down.

"How did you do?"

I thought about it for a second. "Uh, I dropped the guy on the left's shields down."

"WHich one?"

"I don't know, he was just on the left."

"How many rooms up was he?"

"Two, I think."

"Okay." She shot across the hall and threw a singularity. "Now!"

I looked out and began to move but stopped. "Wait, how do I know if my shields are fully charged?"

"Now isn't the time to worry about that! Act!"

I almost stopped to think but my body took over putting my mind aside and I shot around the corner, firing another full auto until it overheated and jumped into the next room. I smiled for a second until I saw that there was the blond woman from the security was across from me taking cover by the opposite wall.

She just looked at me for a second and I at her before it finally registered to her that I was holding a weapon. He pistol was up in her hand and aimed at me just as I dove at her, tossing Liara's overheated rifle off to the side.

Did I know what I was doing? No. I was flying by the seat of my pants. Acting on instinct rather than thought.

I managed to land on her before she could fire and knocked her gun away in an attempt to pin her to the ground. My lack of formal training was blatantly shown as she was able to toss me off with a quick twist. Trying not to get killed too easily, I pushed myself up activating my omni-tool in my right hand to fire a cryo-blast but it was too late. She already had her tool activated and fired her own cryo-blast and froze me in place.

**Shepard:**

John marched out of Administrator Anolies office ready to shoot the next person to make him cross. It took him a second but once he was in the secretary's area, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down._ This mission so far has gone to shit but it couldn't get any worse._

"Commander Shepard." A nearby voice whispered.

His eyes shot open and he looked over at the Secretary. "Yes?"

"Lorik Qui'in, in the lounge. He can get you access to the garage." She whispered again before going back to what she was doing.

"Excuse me?"

She looked up like she didn't know him. "Yes?"

"Nevermind." John gave her a suspicious look before turning and leaving the office. "Which way is the lounge?"

Tali pointed over towad the far end. "The map shows that we have to take the elevator over in on that end."

"Good, has a fight started yet?" Wrex said lumbering in from their right.

"Not yet Wrex. How is the Prisoner doing?" John didn't know why but he felt a strange connection with Andrew now that he was gone.

"Sedated like you asked. The medical personnel said that he would be ready for us to transport within the hour."

"Alright, well, lets head over to the lounge and talk to a man named Qui'in." They all headed over to the elevator, receiving strange look from the guards. John wanted to chalk it up to them just doing their job but something definitely seemed underhanded going on.

John stepped into the elevator and hit the button for up. "Okay, keep up your HUDs on. We are looking for a man named Lorik Qui'in."

Both Tali and Wrex reached down and hit a few buttons on their omni-tools allowing them to do what he just ordered. _Now, they were already when the elevator opened. If only it didn't take eighteen hours to climb four floors._

Once the doors opened the three of them stepped out and made their way down the walk, ignoring an Asari woman calling to him. His eyes darted to every man in the lounge, eventually falling on a Turian that sat at a lone booth by himself. With one quick glance at his name, John walked over and took a seat with him.

"Commander Shepard, I presume?"

The Commander took a quick look around before answering. "Yes, I hear you can get me entrance into the garage."

"That I can, but first I need a favor."

"Doesn't everybody?" John questioned in a sarcastic tone. "What do you need?"

"Currently, I am under watch by Administrator Anolies security guards for my searches into the goings on of Synthetic Insights. Needless to say, if they search my computer terminal then I am out of the job and you are out of a garage pass."

"So, you want me to go in guns blazing and take your computer?"

"Nothing that detrimental. I just need you to go in and plus this OSD into my computer for a couple seconds and then remove it. The virus that I programed on it should go in and destroy my findings." He answered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small OSD and placed it on the table.

John took it and slipped it into the pouch on his side. "If you are screwing me here…"

"I have no intention to do so Shepard. Get in, get out, get paid as you humans say." He stood up after that and walked off into the crowd and John waited a couple seconds before doing the same but back to the elevator. Once inside, he checked his omni-tool map and noticed that to get to Lorik's office, he had to go by the garage.

"Okay, Wrex, keep your gun ready incase we run into trouble. Tali, watch your motion tracker. If someone is there I wanna know before I see them.

"Yes, sir." The said in unison.

It wasn't long after that before John and his two companions were out and to the next elevator going up. Though, he made a note that the guards that were eyeing him before were not in their previous position. Hopefully, it was just their scheduled break… Hopefully.

Once the elevator dinged, John had a pit in his stomach, and whenever that happened it usually meant that things had gone fubar. They creeped into the office area but they didn't run into any resistance like he thought nor did anything seem to be hitched. They made their way up to the office, put the OSD into the computer and then packed it in and walked out.

That was when things went fubar, one of the security personnel that Andrew had frozen was standing in the middle of the common area with a smug grin on her face. "Commander Shepard, we knew you were planning on helping Manager Qui'in."

John leaned over to Wrex and Tali, "prepare to storm on my word and don't leave any standing."

"Whatever you are planning, I would reconsider." She called over to him.

John looked back to her and his eyes widened before an angered snarl came to his face. THe woman had both Liara and Andrew, stuffed and gagged with guns to their heads.

"The only thing that will be accepted is your unconditional surrender." She called after she was sure he saw her hostages.

**Alright that calls it for this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it along with a hope that you don't feel too angry about the cliffhanger here. I am figuring on putting up the next chapter tomorrow so you don't starve but… I am going to ask Trebor on what he thinks about me trying to upload a chapter a day. Knowing that sick sadistic bastard, he still more than likely tell me to have you guys wait until Friday.**

**^What?! Nobody wants to wait that long, not even you!^**

**I know, but I have yet to recieve anything to make me want to put this up tomorrow.**

**^That's because you haven't even put it up yet and are still typing the authors notes.^**

**Oh yeah, well, they only need four reviews until they hit the ten review mark and I am forced to upload it due to my verbal… written… the agreement I put up on my author's notes a few chapters back that said that I would upload a chapter every ten reviews.**

**^For the love of god. You are evil now.^**

**No, I was evil back when I started saying that I wasn't going to upload any chapters at all until I hit certain review points. People could just wait until Thursday night and read it at 10:00pm PST if they don't want to give me input but that won't help me get any better.**

**^... Is this because of all the guys on UiaWoF that are calling your parts shit?^**

… **Yeah, my confidence might be at a new low for this month.'**

**^Here, give us a hug.^**

**You're in my head…**

**^Damn, well call up your Girlfriend and have her give you a hug.^**

**She is out of town for the next week. That's why I am getting a ton of chapters written.**

**^Oh.^**

**Yeah, well, let's get going.**


	6. Kinda Accepted

**Shepard:**

John fought against the urge to pull out his gun as he stepped out to speak with his new advisories. "Alright, we can work this out."

The woman put her foot in the middle of Andrew's back and pinned him to the ground. "We will only be accepting your complete and total unconditional surrender!"

"That's not going to work." He called back.

"Well", She pulled her gun and pointed it at Andrew. "Then I might as well get this out of the way."

John drew faster than he thought possible and put a shot right through the woman's shoulder causing her to stumble backwards and her men to open fire. Shepard took this as a chance to take advantage of the situation. He quickly dove into a secure cover himself allowing Wrex to charge forward and distract fire. From there, he directed Tali to begin using her tech powers to target shields and weaponry to help wrex take them down faster.

While all this was going on, he saw Liara break free of her bonds and she began helping andrew to cover. As soon as they began moving though, Kaira took notice and began to take aim. That caught John's full focus as he began laying suppressive fire on her position to give them a chance to move.

It was looking like they were about to overtake the guards but one of them caught Wrex with a lucky shot and he crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes. That gave her four remaining men a chance to take up position and pin him and Tali down in their cover. John needed quick thinking to try and give them an opening.

He looked down at his hand and it came to him. "Tali, buy me four seconds."

She nodded and stood up from her cover, firing her shotgun as rapidly as possible to distract attention away from Shepard. He took the pistol in his hand and collapsed it down, tossing it like a grenade over to his cover and into Liara's lap. He then ripped his assault rifle out and began to spray a constant stream out, killing two of the men and forcing the other two into cover.

They fell right into his trap, the cover they were behind was open enough that Liara would be able to peek around and open fire on them. His plan didn't go quite as expected as it was Andrew that came up holding his pistol instead of Liara. His apparent lack of training was made clear as instead of aiming for the troops, he aimed for Kaira.

Her troops saw their opportunity and stood up to aim at him and if it had not been for Tali with a well placed grenade, he would have been swiss cheese. John followed her grenade by standing out of his cover with his gun on Kiara and finger ready to tense should she make a move.

"Surrender Kiara. It won't end badly if you do."

Biotics flared around her in response, and she threw her arm back, ready to toss a warp field at him. He reacted on instinct as she threw it, and she fell backwards to the ground with a hole now in the middle of her forehead.

He gave it a second for the sting of the warp field to wear off and then turned back to his crew. "Alright, injuries?!"

Andrew stood up with Liara over his shoulder. "She took a shot to the… what was it?"

Liara moved her hand from gripping her side and showed that a shot had ripped right through her kidney area. "I'll be fine but I will need some medigel."

He nodded and activated his omni-tool, giving her a dose, that same shot also revived Wrex from where he was laying. "Uh, I'll be fine, I still got two more lungs."

"Alright, lets go meet up with Qui'in and get our garage pass." The team got up and did a real quick check for survivors before heading off back to the lounge. The only trouble was that it was another two elevator rides, something that John did not want to deal with.

They all piled in the elevator and he hit the down button. "Alright, so I gotta ask. How did you two get captured and where is Andrew's left sleeve?"

Liara put her hand to her forehead, recalling the events. "Well, I am guessing that they followed us because as soon as Wrex left to help you they moved in. I was just getting some water from a nearby table when one of them took a shot at me. Luckily, he wasn't too good of an aim and his shot bounced off the wall in front of me. That was the only warning that I needed, I took off down the hallways and managed to lose them, just long enough to double back, wake Andrew and try to make an escape."

"Obviously you didn't since they caught you." Tali pointed out the obvious.

"Yes, they all had cryo mods like Andrew here and were able to freeze both him and I when our shields were down."

"Interesting, that still doesn't explain what happened to his sleeve." John said, in Andrew's direction. "Andrew?"

He didn't look, instead seeming more focused on Wrex's face.

"Andrew, I know he looks pretty but you need to focus."

He shook his head like he was waking from a dream. "Oh, yeah, the doctors took it while they worked on my shoulder."

Shepard nodded his head a few times before turning back around and waiting for the elevator to come to a halt. "Well, I guess we better get you a new pair."

"Say what?" Andrew called from behind him.

John smiled a bit and stepped to the side of the elevator to let everyone out. "Look, you've shown me you have some skill. Emphasis on some. Still, your abilities or tech could be useful with this mission, so I figure that I can at least allow you on the Normandy under a probationary status until we get to the Citadel." He let the smile fade, and gave the kid a look that let him know he was serious. "But don't get me wrong, I _will _space you if I feel the need to."

Andrew swallowed and nodded his head, obviously a bit too shaken to say anything back. John then took the lead again and walked out into the central area and was stopped by the Administrator's Secretary.

"So, Shepard, were you able to help out Qui'in?" Andrew asked as the secretary opened her mouth.

John reached back to feel the OSD on his belt but stopped. He wheeled around, and pinned him to the wall. "How the hell did you know about that?"

"Please, Shepard, I sent you to Qui'in because I need your help."

He glanced back at her, and gave Andrew another hard look before releasing him, giving him a look that said they'd be talking about it later. "Help with what?" He asked her.

"Administrator Anoleis has been extorting millions from the company and I was sent in to take care of the situation. I have enough evidence to put him behind bars but I need you to get me a witness to start the trial."

"So you want me to get Qui'in to testify or something?"

She crossed her arms and held a sly smile. "Now you are getting it. Get me his testimony and I will make it worth your while."

He considered it a moment. "I need a garage pass to continue my investigation. You get me that, I'll get him to agree to testify."

"Agreed." She nodded and turned to leave.

John turned back to his crew and noticed immediately that Andrew was gone. "Okay, where did Andrew go?"

The all looked back to where he would have been but all of them shrugged.

"Great." He sighed. "Tali- check our comms, see if he hacked them somehow to find out about Qui'in. And see if you can track him down while you're at it."

Tali pulled up her omni-tool and cocked her head to the side. "Uh, he isn't coming up on any scans. It's like he doesn't even have an omni-tool."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Figures...Alright, let's go talk to Qui'in, but keep an eye out for him. He can't have gotten far. And it's not like he won't stand out."

Everything flew by after that and it wasn't long before Shepard stepped out into the lounge and saw that Andrew was talking to an asari that was near the entrance.

He waited for him to be done talking, then walked up behind him and snapped his fingers, making him spin around. "Shepard, how's it going?"

"Tell me, do you see any airlocks around here?"

He looked back and forth before shaking his head. "No, though there could be one on the other side of all those people over there." He gestured over to the dancers.

"So then, since I can't space you, tell me what you think I should do instead, or why you ran off. Or how you know about the data for Qui'in, that'd be a good place to start explaining too." He glanced behind him and saw Wrex was there, ready to stop him if he tried to run.

"Uh, I came here to get some cash so that I could buy that armor." He said shrugging.

"And how did you do that?"

"She told me to go chat it up with that guy over there until this thing beeped and then I came back."

He decided after a moment it probably didn't matter. "And the sneaking off on your own?"

"You were busy and I didn't want to bother you or interrupt your talk with the lady." He just put on his stupid smile after that and gestured over to the rest of the bar like he was ready to go do whatever John was here to do.

"So, two final questions. How come your omni-tool is untraceable, and how did you know about Qui'in?"

"What and who?"

"You asked if we got the data for him. I want to know how you knew, and why Tali couldn't trace your omni-tool."

He opened his mouth but gave a look like he got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. "Uh, I heard the lady say if before I left. The one in the pink. All I had to do after that was look for his location on my map and here I was."

"Uh huh. And did you do all of that after you got kidnapped, or in the miniscule amount of time before that when you were being watched by my team?"

"Dude, I can do a lot with a omni-tool. I mean, these things blow the iPhone out of the water with processing speed."

"...iPhone? What the hell is that?" He held up a hand to cut him off. "Whatever. Next time give us a heads up at least before you rush off like that."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry, communication isn't really my thing."

"I gathered that from your entrance onto the ship to begin with."

"Well, good, then we are on the same page." He slapped John on the shoulder. "Now, let's go talk to this Qui'in guy and make like a tree."

"...I can tell already I'm going to regret this." He muttered as he walked towards the Turian.

**Ty:**

And once again, Shepard was doing the most boring thing that comes with having played the Mass Effect games too many times in a row. Talking.

A joke crossed my mind and I leaned over to Tali. "Hey Tali, what is the hardest part of helping a Turian who took a rocket to the face?"

She gave me a blank look- or at least I thought she did, it was hard to tell with the helmet.

"Figuring out which side it hit. Get it?... because they are so ugly… you aren't laughing."

She crossed her arms. "Maybe it works differently for humans, but most species only laugh if something's actually funny."

"Wow, and way to be the bitch." I scooted away from her and began to rub my hand up and down my left arm as goosebumps started to form thanks to the cold.

"This coming from the man who tazed the turian onboard the ship. Which is the only reason Shepard brought you." She added, glancing over at him. The glance turned into more of an obsessed stare.

"Uh, I know you may think he is handsome but you don't need to stare." I said in jest.

"What? I wasn't staring at Shepard." She said too quickly, yanking her head back.

"It's funny how it's written all over your helmet."

"I wasn't staring at him, I was just ah...running a diagnostic on my suit."

"Your omni-tool wasn't open." I observed.

"It's self contained in the suit. It tracks uh, eye movement, so I was looking over there where I wouldn't be... distracted."

"Sure, and the fact that he is sitting their in just the right way so that you can just happen to be looking him over just as you were doing your suit diagnostics that apparently rely on eye movement. How do you open something? Blink once you have looked at it?"

"Right, but um, you blink twice to open it."

"And you are wringing your fingers together like I'm guessing you do while you are nervous."

She looked down at her hands and yanked them apart.

"Caught ya'."

She looked back up at me, obviously glaring. "I have a shotgun."

"And I have…" I looked down at myself realizing that I had no weapons whatsoever.. "Charisma."

"Is that what you call it?"

I just smiled at her and inhaled a deep breath through my nose. "Ah, fresh air, nothing like it. Especially when it is unfiltered."

If it was possible, she was glaring at me harder now.

"Alright Shepard, you made your point. I'll stand witness to the trial." I head Lorik say.

"Alright, I will go tell my contact." John said standing up from the seat.

I turned around and began to walk away when Shepard caught me by the shoulder and took the lead into the elevator. "Alright, so, we are going to split up from here. Andrew and Liara, since you both are injured I want you to go talk with Chakwas and get checked out. The rest of us will go talk with the secretary and then head to Peak 15."

I looked over at Liara and shrugged. "Sounds good to me. The less time I spend getting shot at, the better."


	7. Crime and Punishment- Not BDSM

**Ty:**

I walked forward next to Liara thinking about what was going on now with Shepard heading to Peak 15. "Hey, Liara?"

She looked over at me. "Yes?"

"What did you see when you looked like in my head?"

She opened her mouth to answer but snapped her mouth shut, causing my heart to begin beating quicker in panic. "I saw, I don't know what I saw honestly. You… were in a different place, a different time all together and playing-" She gripped her head and let out a pained grunt. "I can't think through it. It just brings me pain."

I brought my hand to my chin and began to think. _Could Chakwas or the AI or whatever she is calling herself do that? Okay, that is definitely my first question I am asking her._

We stepped into the elevator and I hit the up button. "Okay, so then… how's stuff?"

"Stuff?"

"I don't know. Living on a ship with a bunch of humans and like three other aliens, none of which are your own species."

She sat thinking for what must have been half the ride before finally coming up with a replay. "It's definitely educational. Most of the time in my expeditions and travels I have a mainly Asari crew with few humans, Salarians, and maybe a Turian or two for protection. Being this near to a Krogan and Quarian is the oddest thing."

"It has gotta be the smell. Am I right?"

"The smell?"

"Well, Wrex never takes a shower, at least that was what I thought when I he first brought me food in that confined closet that Shepard was calling a cell. Man, it sucked being in a confined area with him."

"I suppose. The smell of scientists that have been away from shower and civilizations is rather unpleasant. A warrior like Wrex would probably be worse than that."

"Have you just not noticed or something?" I asked her as the elevator opened.

"I've been...occupied by other thoughts."

"Like what, how to get in Shepard's bed?" I joked trying to keep the tone light but at the same time hoping that nobody would notice who I was if I acted casual. _That's right; I'm not the guy who froze your security teams._

"I did um, mention the fact I was interested with him, but he doesn't seem to return the feeling."

I looked away from her realizing that I had just made it awkward. "Oh, well then. Better luck next time?"

"Maybe." She smiled dryly. "It isn't as though I don't have time to figure it out."

"Yeah, it's not like the universe could end in five years." _More like three._

"Goddess I hope not."

"Yeah, you're like what? 25, wait Asari years so 101?"

"106 actually."

"Okay, no relate that into human years."

"I don't know enough about your life spans to guess. I've also heard we mature at different rates- 40 is young for us, but apparently the Commander is younger than that."

"Is he? I never paid attention to age in my playohmygod, look the frozen people are gone." _Please don't notice the first part. Please don't notice the first part._

"They must have been cleared away." She said after a moment, apparently dismissing the first part as a mistranslation, or a human thing.

I looked forward and noticed that they actually were gone. "Well, would you look at that. There's not even any markings on the ground. Must have actually melted it instead of chipping them out."

"I bet that's a common problem on Noveria." She said, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering slightly.

I felt the hairs on my arm stand straight up as the icy sting hit it. "Ah hell that is cold."

"How do these people stand it?"

"They must be Vikings."

"...Must be what?"

I let out a sigh and just kept walking. "Never mind."

She shrugged and kept walking as well in silence.

Not long after that we reached the Normandy and we made our way to Chakwas. Upon stepping in, she was up without a word. Placing one hand to Liara's head and the other to her wound. Matrix code flowed out from where her hands touched until Liara was completely covered.

"What are you-"

"Be quiet for one moment, Ty. I am doing my job." The matrix code then pulled back to her hands and she let go of Liara with a smile. "Well, it took some doing but I am glad we were able to fully fix you up."

She looked down at herself confused. "I… Yes, thank you doctor."

"Alright, off you go. I must attend to the stowaway here."

She nodded and left.

"Alright, first question. Are you keeping Liara from seeing the real world or…?"

"I don't care if they know it or not honestly. Liara herself is keeping her from seeing what is before her because she does not want to believe what she saw. Now, do you have any other questions or may we move on to more pressing matters?"

"Uh, what could be that pressing. Shepard's off to Peak 15 by now."

She stifled a laugh. "Undoubtedly, but that is not your trial here."

"Uh, my trial?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"You didn't think you could alert Shepard to the rachni and just figure that I wouldn't mind, did you? No no no, I am sending a squad of Batarians led by a Krogan to deal with the difficulty being down." She said with a casual smile.

I took a step back from her. "You did what?"

"Well, you messed with the difficulty so now I had to fix it. Of course they are heading to the peak over the pass…"

I looked at her with a more serious look. "And that means?"

"Well, say if someone that messed up originally caught up to them and, oh I don't know, fought them himself. Then I might forgive the transgression so long as it never happens again." She took a seat in her chair and leaned back, giving a casual feel to her previous statement.

"Who are you talking about?" I decided to play dumb hoping that it would somehow get me out of it.

"You have to go and fight them before they get to Shepard or he won't make it. I will ensure that."

"You fucking bitch."

"Doesn't matter what I am. I am the one holding the cards the deck and can give you whatever I feel necessary."

I turned and let the door close behind me but I could still hear her as she yelled. "Might want to give your armor an upgrade if you hope to defeat them."

**Shepard:**

John stacked on the door with Wrex right behind them as they waited for Tali to hit the button. "You guys familiar with a breach?"

"You mean that thing with all the sand and sea shells?" Wrex asked.

"...That's a beach Wrex. I said 'breach'"

"Oh. Guess the translator must've glitched."

"You better buy yourself a new one then after we get done feeding these guys their own teeth." Shepard joked as Tali hit the button. He moved in sticking close to the left wall and quickly took in the enemies. "Two snipers, a prime, three krogan and turrets. Everyone got your targets?"

In answer, Wrex and Tali began to open fire.

The prime became his prime concern as he pulled out his shotgun. "Carnage out!"

As to follow up his words Tali threw an overload at the prime knocking out its shields. The carnage shot followed that up and cut the primes armor down. He quickly switched to his stinger and aimed for the head.

Wrex then stepped in his way, shields saving him from friendly fire but also blocking Shepard's shot, causing him to curse at him under his breath. "Damn it Wrex, watch where our fire is directed!"

Wrex shrugged and activated his biotics, throwing the prime against the far wall.

"Tali, what do you got?"

She popped off a carnage shot of her own, and as the Prime got back up, its weapon exploded in its hands thanks to one of her tech mines.

That dropped the prime for good and left him and Tali to deal with the last two snipers while Wrex finished off the Krogan. John ripped out his sniper rifle out and put one of them in his sights and pulled the trigger making it explode with a fiery glow. He looked to the next one but saw that Tali had taken it out and Wrex was stomping the last Krog an into paste.

"Alright, damage control?" Shepard called to his comrades.

"I'm fine." Tali replied.

"Nothing serious." Wrex said. "Don't bother wasting the medigel, it'll heal on its own."

John nodded and began walking forward when he got a call on his communicator. "Hello?"

"Uh, hey Shepard, how far are you in the base?"

His jaw clenched his jaw at the voice. "Andrew, we just passed through the front lobbying area. Why?"

"Oh, you know, just wondering how long we will have to be on this ice cube." His voice was a bit panicked but he could have just been freezing too.

"Well, I don't know. I have no idea on how deep this base goes."

"Alright, well, take your time."

"...Is there something you're not telling me?" He asked, suspicious now.

"No, no. I just, well… Okay, I was going to try and sneak in and sleep in your bed. But you caught me so I won't now." The way he spoke it made it seem like he truly was caught but still it didn't seem like him.

"Whatever. Don't call again unless it's actually important." He said, hanging up. "What a dumbass."

"You sure about bringing him aboard?" Tali asked.

"Just until we reach the Citadel." Shepard said, hoping that he could last that long without killing him. Or someone else killing him.

**Ty:**

I clicked off my comm and tapped my foot waiting for the hanar to bring me my new armor. Luckily, I had nearly twenty thousand credits in my account so it was enough to pick up a light Explorers armor III, a Stiletto II pistol, and one motorized joints to help me be able to match the krogan's joints.

"What is taking so long?"

"Apologies angered one. This one's stock was recently mostly cleared out by a few batarians and a krogan." He said, as he brought the box forward.

"Of course you were, because that is my fucking luck." I said, taking the box from him and flipping the lid off. "So, how long ago did those guys just come through here?"

"Apologies, but this one does not give away client information."

I pulled out the pistol and activated it. "Well, you just gave this one a means to get information out of you."

"...The other makes a valid point. It has been slightly over half an hour."

"Son-of-a-bitch." I said, ripping off my over armor and placing the Explorer's on. "Can this stand up to the cold on the mountain side?"

"This one believes so."

"Okay, that solves one problem." I attached the motorized joints and placed the pistol at my side. "Now to deal with the big one."

I took off toward the door, having no idea how I was even remotely going to catch up with the Krogan and his crew. "Oh, shit what have I gotten myself in to."

A small glint came out to me in the corner of my eye but when I looked at it, I saw that there was a reflection in the metal. "Huh, was that?" I made my way over to the metal and got close to it.

"Boo!" I saw my ex girlfriend Layla in the reflection. "Now, that I got your attention."

I looked around and then began running my hands through my air. "Oh my god, I am crazy."

She held her hand up to her lips. "Don't talk, only I am allowed to right now got it?"

I raised an eyebrow and looked around. "Okay."

**Alright, that does it for this chapter. Give me some feedback if you can. Do you guys like it, hate it, love it, or think I should just stop? Alright, catch you later.**


	8. Upgrades

**Ty:**

I followed Layla as she walked in the reflection, leading me to the garage. Strangely, nobody but me seemed to see her or if they did, they must have thought that she was just my distorted image.

"Okay, here is the thing. You have just entered a digital universe that is maintained inside your xbox thanks to a recoding matrix that I installed that allowed me to convert DNA to code via external waves." She said casually, leading me forward.

"Uh, what?"

"I got you trapped in here because I decided that I wanted to try and make the thing from Tron."

I stopped walking which made it awkward as she continued. "You what?"

She looked back at me through the metal. "I am simplifying it. I have an I.Q. over three-hundred remember?"

Sighing in disbelief, I motioned for her to continue as I started walking.

"The point is that you are in a digital version of Mass Effect. In this type of universe things aren't as… set in stone as you may think." She waved her hand and the doors to the garage opened and invited me in. "Remember, this is really going to suck. But if you can figure it out, you might just walk away better then you were before."

I opened my mouth to ask her what she was talking about but within a flash she was gone. "That is going to get annoying."

The garage was a lot like the game only the Geth that Shepard destroyed were still strewn about leaving evidence that there was a struggle here. Taking a look around, I checked to see if I could find any of Noveria's police force but instead was only greeted by nothing. Shortly after that I looked toward the exit and thought.

_Okay, it doesn't look like they took a vehicle since that gain boxed in tank is still here. Question is, can I catch up to them? _I looked down at myself and fought the urge to sigh at how lean I was. _Considering it has been I while since I could run a mile in six minutes, no. What about transportation?_

I looked over at the big tank, and shook my head. _Too big and clunky. They could hear me coming. Hide, and take me out from behind. Maybe I should… Fuck it. I'm gonna have to try and run._

I sighed and leaned forward and began to sprint. It was going to be a difficult road ahead.

The garage opened up as I reached the end and I immediately sunk waist deep in the snow. My first instinct was to look around and see if I could find some way to move faster. The choice was between trying to continue on and get up on the snow hoping that the Mako packed it down enough or make my way over to the cliff side and take an extra ten minutes.

"Fuck it." Even if the first choice didn't work it would only take two minutes and if it worked the payoff would be worth the risk. I began to step forward and the cold seeped into my veins, prompting me to stop and begin searching for a way to activate my helmet.

Without me doing anything the helmet shot out and covered my head. The more this stuff began to happen I began to realize that everything seemed to be based on though. Still, I was on a clock and they were already way ahead of me. Forcing my way forward, I dug through the snow until I hit the Mako's tracks.

The snow that made it up had luckily frozen and I was able to lift myself up onto it and begin to run. Within seconds the icy air that I sucked in began to burn my lungs along with stinging my lips. By the time I reached the first bridge I saw that their track swerved out and the vehicle crashed in the wall next to it.

"Well, my luck might finally be changing."

I saw that their tracks were dug into the snow and it looked like they weren't going to be moving very fast. Especially, with the trench they were carving to make their way.

Searching my mind, I looked for any and all ways that I could make my way forward faster. I was tired now, more tired than I had been in the last couple years. Still, I began to jog forcing my legs to keep going even as my knees tried to lock up.

It was this far after breaking point that I realized there was a sort of second wind program. I continued to run but pulled up my omni-tool and searched through rapidly looking for adrenaline rush. As I searched through I began to pick up a pattern. All the programs were titled in 1337.

"Oh, Andrew Shepard, you cheeky bastard." I scrolled through until I found one labeled 4DI23N41IN3 I2U5H and activated it.

A white button appeared on my omni-tool and I hit it. Immediately to my pleasure I was renewed with energy and was able to begin sprinting down the path faster than I was before. So fast that, in fact, I had to stop myself after I had gotten to the edge of the bridge because I already caught up to the squad.

I took the closest hiding spot in the snow and watched them move forward. The krogan was in the front barreling through the snow while the batarians followed suit. My hand came down and pulled the pistol off my hip and activated it when it finally hit me. _I am going to legitimately kill someone. Oh my god… I shot those people before._

I dropped the gun barrel first into the snow and sunk down. _They might have had lives, they were peop- No. This is my x-box, everything's just ones and zeros. Code. It's all code._

A smile came to my face as I reached down and pulled up the gun. Killing a person was something but code. Nothing at all.

I took aim at the middle batarian and readied my finger over the trigger. "Just gotta hit the delete button."

I opened fire and along with the targeting system, the batarian fell after taking three shots in the head but the other three ducked down into the snow and I lost them. Realizing that one of them probably saw my position, I ducked down and began to crawl over the top of the snow.

Moving along the snow I made my way forward until I reached a new snow bank and peaked over. One of the Batarians was standing where I'd been and was undoubtedly following the trail I'd left; I used that to my advantage and hit him with a cryo-blast and then a three shot burst to dispatch him.

My quick action ended up screwing me over as the last batarian found me and opened fire, breaking my shields and putting one through my arm. I rolled back and clutched at the wound and searing pain shot through my arm. I had no idea if my shields engaged but I had to take him out quick.

Quickly, I brought my omni-tool controls up on my wounded right arm and used my good hand to scroll until I found what I was looking for. I clicked on the program titled 54807463 and activated it. Making a black button pop up on my omni-tool. With a fast movement, I stuck my hand over the mound and fired. My reward was to hear him begin curing as the sabotage made his gun malfunction.

I popped over the mound to open fire but the Krogan somehow managed to get up on the snow and charged my position. I dove out of the way of his charge and landed three meters from where I was and three feet deep in the snow.

I laid there for less than a second before I hauled myself out and made a move. Following the Krogan's example I charged through the snow to where the batarian was, unloading my pistol in his direction until it eventually overheated.

The batarian was ready for me and jumped up to meet me and caught me with an uppercut that sent me flying back and slamming into the snow so hard that I hit ice or rock. The krogan was on me shortly after that and picked me up, breathing so close to my mask that I couldn't filter the putrid scent of his breath.

"Little pyjack shit. I oughta slice you open and leave you here to paint the snow red- or maybe give the narthek something to snack on." He said, pulling out a huge knife.

I tried to move but I was hurting now, to the point that I could no longer keep my eyes open and closed them because of pain. As I waited for him to decide what to do with me, I began to focus on something I knew. I focused on the Mjolnir armor and how funny it would be if I was in that and just throwing these guys around like the Hulk did with Loki.

The krogan made a confused grunt and I felt my body begin to change as he dropped me. I began to feel revitalized and my body changed. I began to feel stronger, taller, and more powerful. I crawled up to my hands and knees, opening my eyes, I looked down at my hands and saw that my armor had turned to grey.

Pushing myself up, I stood taller then before and looked down. "Oh shit."

"What kind of armor is that?" The batarian asked the krogan.

"And how the hell did it shift like that?" He asked back.

"Who cares, let's just tear him out of it and then we can look at it in more detail. Might be able go get a good price for it somewhere"  
I took a glance at my body and realized I was in the Mjolnir armor. "Holy shit."

The krogan charged to try and take advantage of my confusion but I caught on to what he was doing and was able to react in time to bring my fist up. With one punch I popped him in the chin.

He looked more surprised than hurt as he stumbled back. I took a glance at my hands and smiled.

"Alright, asshole. Bring it." I said, grabbing the batarian by the head and accidentally breaking his neck with the enhanced strength.

The krogan saw this, and brought up his shotgun, hitting me in the chest with a carnage blast that sent me flying back into the snow. I rolled there for a couple seconds and clutched at my stomach, the shot having knocked the wind out of it. by the time I came to my senses and stood up the krogan pulled a clawhammer off his back and held it in his left hand while his shotgun was in his right.

"I'll give it to you, you got the drop on us but I'm still going to smash your head in."

I stook a little woozily and felt a cool breeze across my stomach. I looked down and saw that my armor over my midsection was torn up and the sternum plate was already falling off. Needing a weapon, I grabbed it and tore it off of me and held it so that I could easily wedge it right below his brow plate. If my memory served me right and that was the weakest part of their skull.

He took a step forward before firing off another carnage shot and breaking into a charge. After, dodging his shot, I broke into a sprint right as him and drew my hand back readying to hit him with the plate.

We both drew nearer and nearer, twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters. I stopped just short of him and made my swing as he did his. My shot connected first and his blood flew out from his forehead and washed over me. Though, to my dismay, his shot connected with my head and I dropped.

**^What happens next?! Do I live?!^**

** S7:… you have to ask?**

** ^This is a rewrite, I could die.^**

** S7: I don't… You just… I didn't write you to be an idiot.**

** (Yeah, that's more my thing.)**

** ^Shit, when did you get here?^**

** (He keeps asking T117 to look over it and give him advice and crap. Which means when T117 leaves the room and his login and password for docs are saved on his computer…)**

** S7: Well, that's… concerning. What did you think of the chapter?**

** (You've been spending a lot of time with Trebor if you ended a chapter like this.)**

** ^Was it a bad chapter?^**

** (Hehe, nice one.)**

** S7: I don't… you are all… huh, I have nothing to say.**

** ^Okay, well, everyone. We are going to go now and beat some sense into Iron.^**

** S7: Comment, follow, favorite. you get the drill. If we get four reviews by Sunday then we will put out another chapter. 1473I2**


	9. Limits are Limits for a Reason

**Shepard:**

John kept his gun steady as he entered into the lab, immediately spying the giant insect that was trapped in the glass box held to the platform where his target, Matriarch Benezia, stood.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother." She said, looking at the bug in question. "There is power in creation, in shaping a life. To direct life toward happiness or despair. Her children were to be ours, raised to hunt and slay Saren's enemies." She faced them and walked out onto the platform that circled the lab. "I won't be moved by sympathy. No matter who you bring into the confrontation."

John let his rifle drift away from his eye. "What?"

"Indeed? What have you told them about me Liara?"

His gun fell to his hip and he looked over to Tali. "Is she on some red sand or something? Liara is back at the ship."

"Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

John's gun came back up to his eye. "I guess there is no reasoning with you then."

"That was never an option." Benezia realed back and thrusted her arm out, putting John into a stasis. Allowing her to dodge back into cover while he was stuck wide out in the open as the Asari and Geth entered the lab.

As soon as John was out of the stasis. He rushed forward to meet an oncoming Asari that was rushing their position. He brought his rifle up and bashed her in the face as he ran past, unable to stop thanks to Benezia unloading her pistol at him and throwing a stream of biotics his way.

He reached the other side and managed to gun down the Geth there before looking back and noticing that Tali and Wrex were pinned on the other side. He let out a curse before continuing to move the long way around the catwalk, hoping Wrex or Tali would catch on and start taking down enemies that were going to be between them.

John got to about half way before Wrex realized that he was taking the long way and broke off from his fighting with Benezia. Wrex got up and charged off with Tali sticking close behind him, trying not to get shot as they fought forward. Just as they were about to make it, another Asari came charging in and hit Wrex with a lift that sent him flying and forces John to stop and crouch as she came charging in, turning all focus on her.

He squeezed down on his trigger and unloaded everything he had on her and dropped her before she got too close. It looked like they were about to overtake the asari when Benezia waved her hand and pried open the doors to release more commandos into the lab.

John turned the direction with more asari coming. "Wrex, Tali. Take the opposite direction. I'll lay suppressive fire."

Three of the asari began to throw biotic powers at him when the door behind them exploded, revealing some sort of giant in a suit of armor.

**Ty:**

I opened my eyes groggily and began to look around. Something was on top of my head and pinning me down in the snow so that I couldn't sit up with little effort. With a quick sweep I reached up and pushed it off and into the snow next to me.

I held back a gasp as I saw that it was a human. _I was fighting batarians, how the hell…?_

Upon flipping him over I grabbed the man by the shoulders and stared at him. "Danny? Danny is that you?"

He didn't answer me for a couple seconds but he let out a groan and that signalled that he was at least alive. My mind raced on what to do and I found myself pulling up my omni-tool and begining to go through my contact list until I reached Chakwas.

I pressed the button and it connected with her immediately. "Chakwas. Danny. The hell what?"

"Damn, I was afraid something like this would happen. Okay, listen very carefully to me. Danny was just pulled into the game by the same means you were. Though, he is unconscious. For him to wake up, Shepard will need to defeat Benezia and deal with the Rachni."

I looked down at him for a second and then over to where the Krogan I killed was, noticing that it wasn't his hammer that had hit me but Danny, landing on top of me and knocking me under the hammer's swing. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It was just decided by the other AI."

"Other AI?"

"Look, the important thing now is that you get out to Shepard and make sure to help him as fast as possible. There is no telling what a forced coma will do to a human mind." Chakwas sounded disinterested but at the same time slightly panicked if that was even possible. "I can pull him through a glitch in the system to where I am now. You need to move, though."

I stood up and watched as a blue tear opened up around Danny and engulfed him. I fought the urge to just dive down then and there to begin digging him out. Instead, I looked over at the krogan and after quick examination of his head, noticed that my sternum was a lot colder now.

Deciding against grabbing the piece of armor from his head, I turned around and took off toward the facility, Adrenaline racing through my veins. My body pushing itself harder than I would have thought possible and just when i felt as though i was going to collapse, I looked out across the canyon and saw that I could see the entrance but there was still half the distance to go.

"Is there a faster way?" I asked Chakwas.

"Do you have any adrenaline shots left?"

I looked down at my omni-tool and noticed I had one left. "Won't that make my heart explode?"

"It might." She said, and I'd have bet money she was smirking as she said it.

"Well, you only… fuck it." I hit the button and felt my heart being to serge and my legs took off running faster than I thought I could even with the Spartan armor. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was on fire in my chest, my eyesight showed everything as though it were vibrating, and all I could taste in my mouth was cotton.

It felt like a matter of second for me to run around the edge and get to the facility entrance. To which, I just kept on going down the path I could best remember. Up to the left of the entrance garage and then follow the hallways to the VI room, then past that to the tram. The dead bodies piled everywhere were a reminder that Shepard had already been through there.

I got on the tram next but the ride took for what seemed like forever, though it could have been the adrenaline shot. My body was working over time and where ever I walked it felt as though I was moving at warp speed.

I went through every possible route in my head thinking of how I could get in and help but I was never able to focus on one idea too long. My mind kept moving without me and it was almost too difficult to keep a train of thought going for more than three seconds. I ended up just saying screw it and figured that if anyone said what do do best it was Sam Flynn.

_I'm a User, I'll improvise. Hm, User. I like that._

After what seemed like another hour, the tram came to a halt and I stepped out. The effects of the adrenaline became more and more apparent as I began to taste nothing but dry in my mouth along with a bad case of the shakes.

I looked around at the different doors and elevators, and noticed one of them was still red. A moment later I heard faint sounds of gunfire coming from that direction, and realized it was the door you came out of after fighting benezia.

I took off over to it and kneeled down near the controls and began to hit buttons on it trying to hack but it wouldn't give. "C'mon, where is the XYAB pattern for this shit?"

I felt my anger swell and eventually it took the better of me as I began throwing myself against the door over and over. My first hit just felt like I slammed into a brick wall, the second was like running into a street dumpster, but the third showed give as my shoulder indent was left in the door.

This gave me one last surge of energy as I threw myself against the door as hard as possible and tore it off its seal system and broke through to see Shepard and the others getting swarmed by Asari commandos. I followed my first instinct and made a grab for my pistol but it was no longer at my side. At a glance back, I saw it had fallen off my hip in the doorwaydoorway forcing me to dive back and retrieve it.

I got up and held my Stiletto in hand but was forced to dodge to the side as Shepard opened fire at me. With a quick activation, I opened up my comm channel to him.

"Dude, it's me. That hunk of armor is T-er-Andrew." I called waving my weaponless hand out for him to see.

The fire stopped and there was a pause before I had to bing firing at some Asari moving to flank me. "Andrew? What the hell are you in?"

"Uh, special armor I found on Noveria in one of their labs." _He can believe that right?_

"I will have questions for that soon but right now we could use the help. Tali, move over to Andrew's position and help him be sure no one passes you both. Wrex and I will move around and force the commandos your way."

"Got it." She said moving into position by me.

I looked over at her and noticed she was using her pistol which was still a base level one as compared to her Katana shotgun I remembered hooking her up with after the lucky find on Therum. "Tali, switch to your Katana."  
"If they get close- this has better range."

"I got the range handled." I said holding up my Stiletto. "Plus, this place is close quaters enough that you should be able to hit everything with that."

She glanced at me for a moment before reluctantly switching.

"Think you're that bad of a shot?"

She answered that by standing up and shooting off the head of a geth that was sneaking up on us, then looked back at me. "You were saying?" Even with the mask I could see her smug expression.

I turned around and pinned an Asari behind a barrier. "Got a sabotage that you can toss in there?"

She brought up her omni-tool, then nodded. "Recharge time's not exactly short though- can you get them to stand up or move so I've got a better shot?"

"Uh." I didn't give myself time to think. Instead I just charged in headfirst directly where the Asari stood only to have her pop up with a loaded shotgun and blast me point blank with a carnage shot.

It completely fried my shield but gave me the perfect chance as Tali stuck her with a sabotage and I brought my fist, enhanced by spartan strength, down on her head. The Asari crumpled to the floor but I was left unprepared as a Geth that was backing her up popped out with a rocket aimed at Tali.

Everything from there happened in slow motion as he fired. Tali froze where she stood and I was forced to turn back around, all the while wondering what I was thinking, as I jumped back and took the rocket in… my back. Without the shields I finally hit my limit or that point well beyond my limit of complete and total body destruction as I crumpled to the floor uttering, "Ouch."

** Hey, sorry this is late. I'd blame something but honestly it's my own addiction to GTAV that made this so late. Like, comment, favorite blah blah blah. You know the drill. Let me know if you are liking the action in this one better than the original if you could. hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a nice day/ night/ morning/ afternoon/ evening.**

**1473I2**


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